Playing Chess
by HiddenCamellia
Summary: A sweetly strained relationship.


**Credits/Disclaimers: Only the idea is mine, everything else belongs to their respective creators.**

Theirs was a relationship of pulls and pushes, games and strategies, wits and wisdom and yet, as usually was not the norm, somehow they never ended up in different parallels of the world.

Asako Shibasaki was known to most of her agency simply as Shibasaki. A quiet, tenacious lady who cared a lot for her work and did not get her hands unnecessarily dirty. As Iku Kasahara, her friend and colleague, would be able to vouch, Asako was a person of simple tastes - she liked watching the news, liked clean jobs, liked her evening make-up routine and prized her beautiful, long hair. She never rushed and she never faltered. A truth, a lie, a secret, a revelation - all held the same gravity and weightless enunciation on her lips. She was a mystery in plain-sight. Which no one seemed to be interested in unraveling. Fortunate for her, but very unfortunate for her targets.

He was one such unfortunate soul who had ended up on that target list. Not that she had, in any way, been aiming to destroy him - but when it came to negotiations, not having your opponent researched tended leave one at a disadvantage. And so, Satoshi Tezuka found himself slightly enraged, very intrigued and quite frankly, enticed when he received a proposition from the Internal Affairs division to "assist" in their undisclosed, undercover operation to unearth some god-forsaken artifact from the depths of a wealthy, well-connected politician's private accounts. Said artifact happened to be a consolidated list of sorts - a list of clandestine funds to back-up anti-government agenda.

Naturally, Satoshi's first inclination had been to decline the offer. And he had conveyed as much assuming that the matter wouldn't be forced again, given that the head of the National Clandestine Services was turning down the project. But his defeat and aforementioned enticement, so to speak, had come in the form of a young lady, from IA who seemed to know exactly what to do get anything out of anyone. That was a dangerous thought. And she was a cunning woman.

Their first meeting had happened at a bar - he was consciously avoiding thinking about work and enjoying the fine scotch in that beautiful glass, when she had joined him at the bar, asking for the same drink. It was a rare choice and he had looked up to see who this stranger was. A night of clever flirting and caustic remarks had commenced and ended with her fleeting away like a seductress of the night and him wishing he had a more concrete hold on who she was. Well, he wasn't in Intelligence just like that - he could find her for sure. He was mystified and charmed and why wouldn't he pursue that. No woman or man had ever been able to draw him like this. 

And that was all that had taken for Satoshi to want to kick himself the next morning at work, when an ad-hoc IA team had shown up with the turned down proposal revamped and a case to present - and who had been the presenter and primary propagandist? Why, of course, the charming lady who had him dreaming inappropriately all through the night and morning.

He was capable of separating work from personal life. He was capable of shutting down his emotional touch to anything in the world - as his brother would confirm. He was capable of being ruthless, but she had a point. Technically speaking, she had many points. All of which were sound and well thought out, the only issue was that Satoshi felt played. And perhaps, he was - just slightly. 

At the end of the meeting, odds were more in IA's favour than they were in NCS', but Satoshi could not quell the high that rose in his chest - he had a feeling - ugh! he had facts not feelings - he had a feeling that this would just work out right.

It would be another five months, several agitated meetings that he would handle with severity and she with a smile on her face, after which his feeling would finally be realised, but for now one step at a time was the approach to this extremely cautious and unnervingly charming opponent of his.

But for now, keeping an eye on the opposition's Queen would be the most important and intriguing aspect of his job. And thus, they both embarked upon a journey that would have them checking not only their mutual 'enemy' but also themselves in an attempt to win over the other one. How evil.

 **A/N: I forget that I watch other anime too….Well, here is a Satoshi/Asako fic from Toshokan Sensou. Enjoy!**


End file.
